My first official crankbait catch! - Not what I expected!

[FishDewd]

Decided to go fishing today. It was a bit warm so I waited until late afternoon/evening to go. The water was choppy and after not having much luck with a carolina rig or inline spinners, I noticed it getting pretty cloudy. I put two and two together: why not try some squarebills? On my 5th or so cast I was riding the current, slow rolling it down a grass line when it got hit hard. I set it, thought for sure I had a bass... turns out, it was this little guy:

 

 

So this confirms the old addage: a catfish will eat ANYTHING! And he committed to it too, front hook!

[flyfisher]

The whole catfish as scavenging bottom feeders is a myth.  I have caught catfish on pretty much every bait and even on my fly rod while throwing poppers....they are a lot of fun to catch and you always think you have a big bass on till you feel them shake their head or roll then if you are like me, you are like d**n lol

[FishDewd]

Nah I have no problem catching catfish... I have a catfish pond, so needless to say I am a very versed catfisherman. Bass not so much. Bass lately just don't like anything I have lol. Maybe I should stick with catfish!

[Bluebasser86]

You should see an 8-10 pound channel eat a buzzbait, like someone dropped a brick in the water. They love bladed jigs around here and will about take the rod away from you on the strike.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

You should see an 8-10 pound channel eat a buzzbait

I stopped at a pond one night and threw a buzzbait by a tree and heard a tremendous explosion but no hookup . second cast same thing but this time I got him . I thought it was a ten lb bass but just a big channel cat .

[FishDewd]

I think I'm going to try catching more channel cats on bass lures lol. Gonna try it in my own pond and see what happens! I've caught them on tubes and senkos with exposed hooks before, but now I'm wanting to try a crankbait in there and maybe some texas rigs and see if I can hook one up before it lets go- should be fun!

[Munkin]

When I use bluegill colored swim jigs on the Lower Potomac I have to hold the rod really tight. Average blue cat I catch on a swim jig is about 10-15lbs and they hit like they are stealing something.

 

Allen

[desmobob]

I'd love to catch big channel cats on crank baits all day long... if they were easier to unhook!  I guess if I knew I was going to be catching them, I'd mash the barbs down on my trebles; they sure have tough mouths!

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[FishDewd]

Well the ones in my pond are smarter. They don't hit crank baits. I'm surprised cause they haven't been fed since winter ended.

[RPreeb]

Went out yesterday hoping to maybe interest an early spring bass, but not a hint that there were even any bass in the pond.  I didn't catch any catfish either, but after I switched from a T-rigged worm to a crankbait (Rapala DT-Flat - kind of a red craw color), I caught 2 walleyes and a white crappie.  Water temp couldn't have been much more than 40°-45°, but all 3 fish hit it pretty hard.   

[Dtrombly]

 

[AggieBassin10]

I catch catfish more on crankbaits than any other bass lure and I can't recall ever snagging a cat with one. They always smoke it

[FishDewd]

2 hours ago, G-Man Outdoors said:

I catch catfish more on crankbaits than any other bass lure and I can't recall ever snagging a cat with one. They always smoke it

Is there a certain one that seems to work better, or is it all of them? One I used was silent... basically one of my spy bait squarebills.

[AggieBassin10]

1 minute ago, FishDewd said:

Is there a certain one that seems to work better, or is it all of them? One I used was silent... basically one of my spy bait squarebills.

Seems to be all of them but I would say that bluegill squarebills seem to have caught the most for me personally

[Chance_Taker4]

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 6:35 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

You should see an 8-10 pound channel eat a buzzbait, like someone dropped a brick in the water. They love bladed jigs around here and will about take the rod away from you on the strike.

I was literally going to say the same thing. I catch tons of cats of a bladed jig. Last season I was fishing gin clear water and watched one come flying at me like a rockets to grab my vibrating jig about a foot from the surface.

On ‎3‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 4:10 PM, FishDewd said:

Is there a certain one that seems to work better, or is it all of them? One I used was silent... basically one of my spy bait squarebills.

My wife uses the Chart Sexy Shad from SK 1.5 silent and smokes cats with it. We will be out together and she will catch close to 10 every trip with that crank. I catch them with the silent 1.5 Sexy Shad but not near as many as she does.

[jr231]

Id lose the snap and tie direct. If you're committed to running that bait in front of them then you don't need it anyway. It doesn't take that long and I've always felt my lure ran better tied direct. 

 

Might help you get more bites. 

 

 

[Graham]

I don’t know about you, but getting treble hooks out of a catfish is one of my favorite things in the world!

[FishDewd]

1 hour ago, Yeajray231 said:

Id lose the snap and tie direct. If you're committed to running that bait in front of them then you don't need it anyway. It doesn't take that long and I've always felt my lure ran better tied direct. 

 

Might help you get more bites. 

 

 

I never run just the crankbait though, I will switch to and from it quite a bit. I do sometimes die direct if I have a lot of leader though. On that day it seems like I was getting a bit short iirc.

 

1 hour ago, Graham said:

I don’t know about you, but getting treble hooks out of a catfish is one of my favorite things in the world!

I agree! That one wasn't too bad though, got two hooks in him and they both came out by hand. 

[soflabasser]

8 hours ago, Graham said:

I don’t know about you, but getting treble hooks out of a catfish is one of my favorite things in the world!

Try taking the treble hooks out of a tarpon.They are much more grumpy than a catfish when you are dehooking them!

[FishDewd]

I was gonna start a new topic, but... meh. I have this one and it's perfectly fine. I actually caught my first bass today on a crankbait! Only catch of the day, but it made me happy. It was probably the smallest bass I've ever seen though lol. He literally hit it on topwater. I had just casted it out to a spot where I saw a splash moments before and let it sit until it rose up to the surface, as I normally do. Saw it getting popped, then felt a little jerk, so I reeled in and set it. He got jaw hooked and back hooked he was so small lol. I didn't have a chance to take a pic. I went to pull out the back hook so I could take a pic, and he flopped off the front hook, out of my hands, and onto the asphalt/rocks that were there. I scooped him real quick and tossed him back in before he could mess himself up too badly. Btw, it was a Berkley squarebill, the bluegill colored one, and I did tie this one directly onto my braid without a leader. Couldn't get more after that, but at least now I am 1 for catfish and 1 for bass lol.

[soflabasser]

On 3/23/2018 at 12:35 PM, Dtrombly said:

 

That looks much more fun than catching a bass! Saw this video a couple months ago and is still very enjoyable to watch.